This is a very old Tomintoul selected by Luc Timmermans for the Malaysian market. It is gorgeously mellow yet unabashedly tropical.

Nose: Exquisite fruit cocktail: nata de coco, pineapples and mangoes in syrup, wax, toffee, Mirabelle plums, sandalwood, vanilla, castor sugar.

Palate: Fruity tropical wax fills the mouth, perfect alcohol integration, papayas, more pineapples, honey, passionfruit, caramelised banana.

Finish: Long, cream soda, persimmon, green bananas, rhubarb syrup.

Score: 92

Incredible sweet tropical brightness and a touch of syrupy earthy caramelisation to tie it all together, and is conspicuously devoid of funk. This gentle dram speaks a lot with charisma. First time I'm finding papaya notes in any Scotch (there was a tad in Redbreast 27), but RB27 has too much fruity top notes, out of proportion to the amount of body and anchoring flavours on the palate, which this avoids. Expensive stuff though, even at auction.

Needs a bit more caramelised body, and pastry notes or variety in fruits to really raise it to the stratosphere. A nice proof at such old age, gently aged. I still like it a lot.

H.Y.